"We've prepared this Giro very well" - Visma's road captain and Vingegaard's right-hand man Campenaerts confirms team readiness

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have the most responsibility entering the 2026 Giro d'Italia and Jonas Vingegaard will be able to count on the support of his right-hand man Victor Campenaerts. The Belgian is once again next to his leader for another Grand Tour and warns that the Dutch team is prepared to figh for the win.

"I would say Jonas has been very relaxed at training camp. Of course, he had a good start to the season, winning Paris-Nice and Catalunya, which is always good," Campenaerts shared with Cyclingnews ahead of the Grande Partenza.

All the signs are positive for the Dane who, aside from a small crash and illness in early February that had him skip the UAE Tour, has had a virtually spotless spring. His performances at Paris-Nice and Catalunya were convincing, whilst there were no mishaps in the month leading up to today's start of the Corsa Rosa on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria.

"If you already have victories, it makes it more relaxed, and we just had a very good time," he assures. "It often surprises me that people think it's all super serious for us, but actually, we have a lot of fun. Of course, we do all of the right things, but it doesn't mean that we cannot make a joke at the dining table".

Aside from Vingegaard's success, Wout Van Aert's victory in Roubaix further improved the team's motivation this spring. With Vingegaard entering as the main favourite and having the chance to conclude his set of Grand Tours, there is a stronger purpose to win this race than most.

"We've prepared this Giro very well. We did a long altitude camp together, and this is our second really important goal as a team. Of course, we first had the Monuments, which we succeeded in quite well with Wout winning Roubaix. I was not part of that, but this is the really important second goal of the team, and we are ready."

After racing Paris-Nice, the Dauphiné, the Tour and the Vuelta alongside the Dane last year, there were no doubts left. Campenaerts was a perfect signing for Visma. He quickly and smoothly fit in the team's hierarchy, and became Vingegaard's personal domestique for the flat and hilly days.

His height means that swapping bikes comes with no risks; whilst his experience and ability as a rouleur and classics specialist makes him a very important rider when it comes to Vingegaard's positioning.

His daily vlogs at the Tour de France also showed a good environment in the team, and the Belgian felt like a breath of fresh air in the Dutch team. His attention to detail and commitment to improving as a cyclist is also almost second to none - as shown by his extreme sleeping schedules he recently talked about - and boosts the team's level overall.

What also helps is his good relationship with Jonas Vingegaard. "I would say close is relative. It's not like when we are in the off-season that we go out for dinners with our families, or we fly from Denmark to Belgium in the opposite way. But we do quite a few races together, and we have a good match with my capabilities as a domestique helping him to win races, so that's always good."

Whilst the Dane is a debutant at the Corsa Rosa, Campenaerts takes on his sixth. But this will be a new experience altogether.

"There aren't so many secrets about it. Yes, I did it five times, but also in none of those five times was I a GC rider or a GC domestique, so it's quite hard to give him good advice in that sense. Of course, it is known that in Giro there are always some tough days with the weather predictions, but what can you do," he concluded.